The word capital is derived from the Latin caput meaning "head" and, in the United States, the related term capitol refers to the building where government business is chiefly conducted.
The seats of government in major sub-state jurisdictions are often called "capitals", but this is typically the case only in countries with some degree of federalism, wherein major substate legal jurisdictions have elements of sovereignty. In unitary states, an "administrative centre" or other similar term is typically used for such locations besides the national capital city. For example, the seat of government in a state of the United States is usually called its "capital", but the main city in a region of the United Kingdom is usually not called such, even though in Ireland, a county's main town is usually called its "capital". On the other hand, these four subdivisions of the United Kingdom do have capital cities: Scotland – Edinburgh, Wales – Cardiff, Northern Ireland – Belfast, and England – London. Counties in England, Wales and Scotland have historic county towns, which are often not the largest settlement within the county and invariably no longer exercise political power, as the county is often only ceremonial, and administrative boundaries differ.
In Canada, there is a national capital, and the ten provinces and 3 territories all have capital cities. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil (including the famous cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, capital of their respective states), and Australia all have capital cities. For example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, South Australia; Brisbane, Queensland; Hobart, Tasmania; Melbourne, Victoria; Perth, Western Australia; and Sydney, New South Wales. In Australia, the term "capital cities" is regularly referred to and includes the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, each of its constituent states (or a Länder) has its own capital city, such as Wiesbaden, Mainz, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Munich. Likewise, each of the republics of the Russian Federation has its own capital city.
At the lower administrative subdivisions in various English-speaking countries, terms such as county town, county seat, and borough seat are usually used.
A capital city that is also the prime economic, cultural, or intellectual centre of a nation or an empire is sometimes referred to as a primate city. Such is the case with Athens, Beijing, Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Copenhagen, Dublin, Lima, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manila, Montevideo, Mexico City, Nairobi, Paris, Prague, Rome, Seoul, Stockholm, Tokyo, Vienna, and Warsaw among national capitals.
The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, as occurred with Nanking by Shanghai, Edinburgh by Glasgow and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its capital city, such as occurred with Babylon and Cahokia.
Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals possess no legal designation. This is the case of Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto and Wellington, for example. They are recognised as capitals as a matter of conventions, and because all or almost all political institutions, such as government departments, supreme court, legislature, embassies, etc., are located in or within close proximity of them.
Some examples of the second situation include:
# Canberra, Australia, which was chosen as a compromise located between Melbourne and Sydney. # Frankfort, Kentucky, which is midway between Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky. # Ottawa, Canada, which is located along the boundary between the Province of Quebec and the Province of Ontario - the two most populous of the ten provinces, and also roughly midway between the two most-populous cities of Canada, Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto, Ontario. # Wellington, New Zealand, which is located at the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, the more populous island, immediately across the Cook Strait from the South Island. The capital city was moved there from Auckland, in the northern extent of the North Island, due to fears that the then gold-rich South Island would separate to become its own colony.
When the United States of America established its present constitution by writing it in 1787, the question of its capital city arose. Several cities desired to be the national capital: Boston; New York City; Philadelphia; Richmond, Virginia; etc., but none of these were willing to concede this honor to one of the others. Also, there was rivalry between the proposed thirteen States of the United States as to which one would contain the capital city. Given this situation, the compromise was reached to establish a federal district separate from any of the states, and this would contain a brand-new city for the capital. The capital district was given the name District of Columbia, and the capital city of Washington was founded within it. In 1800, Washington was ready to house the federal government for the first time.
The District of Columbia was the first such district to be set aside purposely for a capital city, and this arrangement has been followed by Australia (the Australian Capital Territory), Mexico (the Federal District), and Brazil (where the district and the city both have the same name, Brasília).
Changes in a nation's political regime sometimes result in the designation of a new capital. The newly independent Kazakhstan moved its capital to the existing city of Aqmola. Naypyidaw was founded in Burma's interior with the justification that the former capital, Rangoon, was considered to be overcrowded.
In ancient China, where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on the provincial level, a dynasty could easily be toppled with the fall of its capital. In the Three Kingdoms period, both Shu and Wu fell when their respective capitals of Chengdu and Jianye fell. The Ming dynasty relocated its capital from Nanjing to Beijing, where they could more effectively control the generals and troops guarding the borders from Mongols and Manchus. The Ming was destroyed when the Li Zicheng took their seat of power, and this pattern repeats itself in Chinese history, until the fall of the traditional Confucian monarchy in the 20th century. After the Qing Dynasty's collapse, decentralization of authority and improved transportation and communication technologies allowed both the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during the great crisis of Japanese invasion.
National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world, including the West, because of socioeconomic trends toward localized authority, a strategic modus operandi especially popular after the development of feudalism and reaffirmed by the development of democratic and capitalistic philosophies. In 1204, after the Latin Crusaders captured the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, Byzantine forces were able to regroup in several provinces; provincial noblemen managed to reconquer the capital after 60 years and preserve the empire for another 200 years after that. The British forces sacked various American capitals repeatedly during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, but American forces could still carry on fighting from the countryside, where they enjoyed support from local governments and the traditionally independent civilian frontiersmen. Exceptions to these generalizations include highly centralized states such as France, whose centralized bureaucracies could effectively coordinate far-flung resources, giving the state a powerful advantage over less coherent rivals, but risking utter ruin if the capital were taken. In their military strategies, traditional enemies of France such as Prussia (in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871) focused on the capture of Paris.
:The closest capital cities of two sovereign countries are Vatican City, Vatican, and Rome, Italy, one of which is inside the other (the distance between the middle points, St. Peter's Square/Piazza Venezia is about 2 km).
:The two second closest capital cities between two sovereign countries are Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, which are about 1.6 km (1 mile) apart, one upstream from the other on different banks of the Congo River (the distance between the middle points is about 10 km).
:Vienna and Bratislava, sometimes erroneously considered the two closest capitals, are actually apart.
:The longest distance from one capital of a sovereign country to the one closest to it is between Wellington, New Zealand, and Canberra, Australia. Each is nearer to the other than to the capital of any other sovereign country.
:The greatest distance between the capitals of two sovereign countries that share a border is , between Pyongyang, North Korea and Moscow, Russia.
Category:Administrative divisions Category:Capitals
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